This invention involves inventory control devices for display hangers or hooks of the type which are attached to a perforated panel such as a "Pegboard" and serve to hold and display retail merchandise.
Basically, there are three different types of display hooks which presently are in wide use. The first is a standard single arm wire hook of the type disclosed in Valiulis U.S. Pat. No. 3,912,084. The second is a so-called scanner hook of the type disclosed in Barnes U.S. Pat. No. 4,452,360. That hook includes a lower horizontally extending hanger arm for supporting merchandise and an upper parallel arm for supporting a price tag which may be "read" by an electronic scanning wand.
The third type of hook which presently is being widely used is a so-called loop hook. Such a hook is disclosed in Valiulis U.S. Pat. No. 4,560,062 and comprises a pair of horizontally spaced arms joined integrally at their outer ends and defining a U-shaped configuration when viewed from above.
Brown U.S. Pat. No. 4,217,986 discloses an inventory restraining device which may be used to keep the merchandise positioned near the outer end of a display hook. The Brown inventory control device is made of rubber or plastic and can be easily separated from the hook and dropped by a customer. Moreover, two control devices of the type disclosed in the Brown patent are required to restrain merchandise on the two arms of a loop hook.